Hey Marc,
You're right, x() is only usable through inheritance, that is in a member function of Son.
About the exam, I haven't got a date set up yet but I don't expect to score too high. To me, succeeding in SCJP is mostly a matter of how much stuff you can remember by heart. I'm thinking about things like I/O API, Generics syntax, Wrapper classes methods, Collection(s) methods, tons of rules, etc.
I don't find these hard to understand at all but I know I'm not going to remember everything and score 98%. I expect to go through the exam and tell myself "god dang it (it'll probably be a different expression
) I know there's a rule about that thing, but what is it ?"
Some other stuff, you can reasonably expect to be able to deduce. For example, var args always have to be the last argument of a method because otherwise, the compiler would have a really hard time figuring out what type of data is being passed to the method.
So my plan is to finish reading the book (I have about 200 pages left), I'll go through all the 2 minutes drill, reread a few critical sections and take as many mock exams as possible. I'm telling you, If I consistently start scoring 70% and above, I'll consider myself ready.
[ August 05, 2007: Message edited by: Dave Walsh ]